“No more walking around” – How Black Lake Technologies transforms Chinese factories -with Yuxiang Zhou, CEO and Co-founder of Black Lake Technologies

Several years ago, “walking around” was still the most efficient way of management in millions of factories in China. People in the factory still use paper and pen to collect and record data, and managers had to consistently walk around the factory to monitor the process. When Black Lake Technologies kicked off, things started to change. 

After graduating from Dartmouth, Yuxiang started his career in Wall Street like many other outstanding Ivy League graduates. His primary task was to help large Chinese industrial clients acquire overseas factories. Instead of sticking to the finance track, Yuxiang soon realized the real gap between German factories and Chinese ones. Trying to figure out the pain points in Chinese factories and explore the practical solutions for manufacturing, Yuxiang decided to started working in a factory himself…

1:09 Realising the gap between Chinese factories and German ones

3:25 Realising the potential market of Chinese enterprise sectors

4:11 Team gathering and kicking off

5:21 Struggle and failure of the first trial

7:20 Crossroads between giving up and keeping going 

9:52 Becoming a worker in a factory 

12:56 Exploring the cruxes of inefficient production & management 

14:50 Inspirations from factory workers 

18:12 Do something different (AB testing)

21:20 Targeting privately-owned factories 

22:32 Right solution at the right time

24:45 Helping Chinese factories catch up with advanced factories overseas

26:01 Black Lake’s global strategy and its china focus